The Girl with the Scarlet Hair
by Black Dragon Valkyrie
Summary: Marissa Hunter is writing to an older student in Japan as a penpal in school. One day her penpal says she's coming to the U.S. and Marissa asks to meet her. There is one small problem, the penpal is bringing most of her family with her.
1. Disclaimer and Terms

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own any of Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark-Hunter world or Yoshihiro Togashi's Yu Yu Hakusho world. Nor do I own any of their awesome characters. But I do own those I myself created and the plot line of this story.

**Rating:**

This will be rated M for strong language, violence, possible character death, and adult situations. If you don't like any of this. **DO NOT READ THIS STORY!**

**Author Notes:**

Technically this story is a crossover of the Dark-Hunter series and Yu Yu Hakusho (for those who don't know it is an anime/manga series, but I am posting it only under the Dark-Hunters because I know this story would be the only crossover of its kind. Trust me, I checked. And this story is kind of tied in with a fellow writer's story. But technically you don't have to read it to understand this story but hers is really good! It's FANTASTIC! And her story inspire me to continue writing this and finally get it posted!

So I would like to send out a special thanks to **Dark-Phantom-Rose**! Her story is called **The Silent Flame** and I really recommend that you read it!

Constructive criticism is welcome! But any of you who know me and my works, I do not tolerate flames!

Below I have two lists of terms you will possible need to understand certain words in this story.

**Were-Hunter Terms:**

Filos – Family or Pack

Patria – Name for clans of Were-Hunters of the same race and animal genus. The existing Were patria are: Balios (jaguars), Niphetos Pardalia (snow leopards), Drakos (dragons), Panthiras (panthers), Gerakian (hawks, falcons, eagles,), Pardalia (leopards), Helikias (cheetahs), Tigarian (tigers), Litarian (lions), Tsakalis (jackals), Lykos (wolves), and Ursulan (bears).

Metriazo Collar – A thin silver collar designed specifically to control a Were-Hunter's magical powers and to keep them from shifting forms. It is VERY painful, and will eventually kill the wearer. It can only be removed by magic or extreme force.

**Japanese terms: (Japanese to English)**

Baka - Idiot

Rekai - Spirit Energy (both the Japanese and English will be used with this term)

Youkai - Demon

Hanyou - Half Demon

Kami - God

Kitsune - Fox

Kisama - Bastard

Shimatta - Damn It

Rei – Spirit

Imouto – little sister

Otouto – little brother

Nii-san/Onii-chan – older brother

Okaa-san – mother/mom

Baa-chan – grandma

Sochi - son

Ningen – human

Onna – woman

Ja ne – see you later

Makai – Demon World

**Now there is the matter of Japanese honorifics. I have listed below not only the honorifics themselves, but also what they mean in the Japanese society. Honorifics also come after people's names.**

**-San:** The most common honorific and is a title of respect. It is used for the surnames or given names of both males and females. Although in translation san is usually rendered as a common courtesy title like "Mr." or "Ms.", unlike these it is never used in self-reference. Using -san to refer to oneself makes one appear childish or incredibly vain.

**-Kun:** An informal honorific primarily used towards males (it is still used towards females, but rarely). It is used by persons of senior status in addressing those of junior status, by males of roughly the same age and status when addressing each other, and by anyone in addressing male children. It can also be used by females when addressing a male that they are emotionally attached to.

**-Chan:** Is an informal version of san used to address children and female family members. It may also be used towards animals, lovers, intimate friends, and people whom one has known since childhood. Chan continues to be used as a term of endearment, especially for girls, into adulthood. Parents will probably always call their daughters chan and their sons kun, though chan can be used towards boys just as easily.

**-Senpai:** Is used to address senior colleagues or mentor figures, e.g. students referring to or addressing more senior students in schools, junior athletes more senior ones in a sports club, or a mentor or more experienced or senior colleague in a business environment. As with English titles such as Doctor, senpai can be used either by itself as a title, or with a person's name in place of san.

**-Kohai:** The reverse of Senpai, used to refer to juniors.

**-Sensei:** Used to refer to or address teachers, practitioners of a profession such as doctors and lawyers, politicians, and other authority figures. It is used to show respect to someone who has achieved a certain level of mastery in an art form or some other skill. For example, Japanese manga fans refer to manga artists using the term sensei. The term is used similarly by fans of other creative professionals such as novelists, musicians, and artists.

**-Sama:** The formal version of san. This honorific is used primarily in addressing persons much higher in rank than oneself and in commercial and business settings to address and refer to customers. It also appears in words used to address or speak of persons or objects for which the speaker wishes to show respect or deference, such as okyaku-sama (customer) or Tateishi-sama (a stone idolised as a deity). Additionally, Japanese Christians will refer to God in prayer as Kami-sama and Jesus as Iesu-sama.

**And below is just something to help with certain bits in the story.**

"blah blah blah" = English, talking aloud

/blah blah blah/ = thinking

**_"blah blah blah"_** = Japanese

**_/blah blah blah/ _**= mental communication


	2. Prologue part 1

**_Japan, 10 years ago_**

It was dark tonight. That was the first though that came to her as large, confused eyes looked around at unfamiliar surroundings. And stormy. She added as the pouring rain soaked her hair and simple white sleeping gown. It had been the only thing on her, or at least she thought so, before the woman currently gripping her arm in a rather painful manner, grabbed her and teleported them somewhere she didn't recognize.

The woman holding her suddenly threw her away as if she had been burned. The little girl looked up from the deep puddle she landed in, now soaked to the bone. She wrapped her small arms around herself, shivering and teeth chattering, before looking up at the harsh green eyes that glared down at her. The woman cursed at her, saying that she wanted nothing to do with an abomination and how she wished she could simply kill her, but didn't wish for someone—a man, who the woman wouldn't name or otherwise—to find out. What exactly? The little girl wasn't sure. The woman gave one last snarl at her before disappearing in a flash.

The little girl sat there, freezing as the rain pelted down on her and all the bright signs down the alleyway cast an almost haunting glow on the tall and dark buildings around her. She stayed as she was for several minutes. Not daring to move from that spot in the middle of the darkness. But finally after several minutes, she realized that the woman had abandoned her in this foreign land and stood up. Her legs shook from the cold air nipping at her, the icy water making her gown cling to her body and dissolving any little warmth it would have brought her. Her hair also clung and got in her eyes constantly; her breathing was heavy and could feel the panic swelling within her chest. She tried as best as she could to quickly get out of the alley and to the street. The bright signs became clearer as she drew closer and the bustle of the streets grew loud in her ears that she flinched at the volume.

Down the street, a boy about nine was walking around muttering to himself. **_"_****_Stupid Teachers. Stupid Kuwabara."_**He repeated to himself. His short black hair was a little wet since the rain had come unexpectedly as he walked home. Dark brown eyes were narrowed on the ground before his feet. He kicked a stone across the sidewalk. He couldn't believe that even in elementary school, the teachers loved to label him a delinquent and throw him in detention. He was in the middle of cursing his English teacher when he bumped into someone, pretty small because he almost got a mouthful of hair.

**_"_****_Oi! What's the big id—"_** his words cut off when he looked directly at who hit him. It was a girl. About two years younger than himself and definitely not of Japanese descendant. She was tiny and skinny with the most vibrant shade of red hair he'd ever seen, matted down against her head, face and shoulders. Her skin was so white and pale she almost looked translucent, but what drew his attention most were her eyes. They were beautiful to say the least. Liquid mercury swirled in her eyes like twin stars and her pupils were the eyes of the storms. They were both intriguing and yet seemed hold such wisdom and knowledge, but there also seemed to be clouds of haze hiding it.

The girl bowed her head and whispered something like an apology but he didn't seem to hear, she had the voice of an angel. He snapped out of the daze he seemed to have fallen in when she started to sway on her feet before starting to fall. He caught her before she could touch the concrete; her eyes were closed and her breathing evened out. She had fainted. The dark haired boy concluded before picking her up bridal style so he could carry her. He could feel his skin gaining goosebumps at the coldness of her skin. He had to get her to his house, right now.

Several long hours and one long explanation later, the boy and his mother, Atsuko, were waiting for the mysterious girl to wake up. Atsuko had dried her off and put her in a pair of her son's pajamas; which the tiny girl seemed to drown in; and wrapped her up in three blankets and a winter comforter on the boy's bed. He had offered his bed and said that he could sleep on the floor in a futon. Atsuko was stroking her hand through the girl's hair in a comforting gesture, her son sat on the floor beside the bed, holding one of the unconscious girl's hands in both of his.

Eyelashes fluttered open slowly and blinked multiple times to adjust to the light of the room. Her mind felt sluggish and at first she was confused on where she was. Then she noticed the two pairs of brown eyes watching her. She suddenly felt very shy and pulled the comforter up until her eyes just peered over the top, in which she realized the boy was holding her hand and blushed.

**_"_****_What's your name, sweetheart?"_** Atsuko asked softly, not wanting to frighten the child. When she didn't answer, her son piped up.

**_"_****_I'm Yusuke! We bumped into each other earlier."_**

The redhead thought about it, shifting threw her mind and saw it as the only memory she had. She slightly nodded as she lowered the blanket from her face.

**_"_****_And I'm Urameshi Atsuko, Yusuke's mother."_** The brown haired woman introduced herself. Again, the redhead nodded but didn't speak.

Something came to the woman's mind. **_"_****_Do you have a name?"_** Atsuko asked, gently trying to coax the girl.

This time the little redhead shook her head no. She couldn't recall anything, least of all her name, before she had ran into Yusuke. Atsuko felt her eyes widen, but then her warm chocolate eyes softened and she smiled down at her.

**_"_****_Well, now you do, Urameshi Hiraki."_**

And just like that, Hiraki became a part of the Urameshi family.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Japan, 6 years later<em>**

"**_Shimatta! Are they serious?! How can they make a call like that now when they've been delaying the count in every other fight?!"_** Presently 13 year old Hiraki watched as her friend Keiko actually cursed aloud and to be honest, she could understand her friend's anger. Her brother and his friends had been forced into the Dark Tournament; a dark martial arts tournament run by greedy humans and consists of demon teams. Each team consists of five members and has a sponsor. The teams fight to the death for the amusement of other demons and to make fortunes for the greedy spectators. But sometimes guest teams are invited to the Dark Tournament; one such team was invited this year.

The guest team consists of the following members:

Yusuke Urameshi, a 15-year-old teenage delinquent who had died in a car accident but was then resurrected a year ago. Upon his resurrection he gained incredible powers and became the Spirit Detective, a powerful human with Spirit Energy that serves Spirit World. On his missions, he made many friends and enemies, which leads him now to being dragged into this dark and corrupted tournament. He and the others of the team were forced into the tournament by the threat if they didn't attend, assassins would kill their loved ones.

Kurama or Shuuichi Minamino as he referred to around humans, is a notorious demon thief by the name of Yoko Kurama. This silver kitsune around two decades ago was wounded by a strong pursuer and forced to flee to the Living World. He hid his soul in the womb of a human woman carrying an unborn child. When his human body was born he swore to only stay for 10 years to replenish his energy, but all that changed and he grew to love his human mother. When she fell ill, he was forced to steal an artifact from the vault of Spirit World to save her. Thanks to Yusuke's unselfish sacrifice, both Kurama and his mother were able to live. However, because of stealing an important artifact, Kurama became part of the Spirit Detective team. Therefore, forced into the tournament with the threat of his mother hanging over his head.

Hiei, a deadly cutthroat thief himself before being forced onto the Spirit Detective team to avoid prison. This usually silent fire demon is of unusual origins, born of an ice maiden mother but with powers of fire. He was dubbed a forbidden child and thrown from a cliff the very day of his birth. Such a thing is usual with male children born of ice maidens because male children are forbidden to exist for the ice maidens' fear of being destroyed by them. Hiei also has a twin sister named Yukina, who searches for her long lost twin with the help of the team and their friends, but Hiei has made it strictly clear that no one is to tell her he is the twin she searches for. Hiei has shown to have grown much in strength and power, the only thing about him that really hadn't grown, is his physical height.

Kazuma Kuwabara, a human with a strong gift of Spirit Awareness and Spirit Energy manipulation. He is a childhood rival of Yusuke's and is a very confident street fighter. He learned of the supernatural and Yusuke being Spirit Detective after discovering his own abilities and fighting with his rival in Genkai's tournament to see who would be the great psychic's apprentice. With his honor code and his determination, he has come far in developing his strength and powers as well as the rest of his team. He is also head over heels for the young ice maiden Yukina and doesn't know that Hiei is her long lost brother.

The last member of the team is the Masked Fighter, who is actually the great human psychic Genkai. She is Yusuke's teacher and the one who taught him much of his Rei based fighting skills under her very strict and intense training. Using an ancient technique, her cells were manipulated to change her body back to what it had been when she was at her peak of power. This was at age of twenty years. This only lasted until she gave the inheritance of her powers to Yusuke, leaving her back in the body of her true age, which is about 70+ years.

The so-called sponsor for this unfortunate team is none other the Prince of Spirit World himself, King Enma Jr. or Koenma as he is normally addressed as. He does not participate for greed and wealth. He watches over things here since the Dark Tournament means less demon criminal activity for both Spirit World and the Living World. He is only actively joining this year to look out for his Spirit Detectives. He normally appears as a toddler but when venturing into the Human and Demons worlds, he transforms into a handsome teenager. He is normally taken more seriously in his teenage form, at least by everyone except for his Spirit Detectives. He can be spotted by the "Jr." mark on his forehead and the blue pacifier in his mouth.

Hiraki could only watch as the scene unfolded. Her brother had just won a match against Team Masho, who are better known as the shinobi or ninja. But the tournament's committee, the humans in charge of the whole Dark Tournament, declared the last fighting round as a null fight, claiming that the referee had missed the time of the countdown. But as the fox-eared referee girl just yelled out, she had been _told_ to delay the count, for all fights. The redhead was glaring daggers at the spot where she guessed the committee sat. She crossed her arms over her chest and slouched in her seat with her teeth grinding together, knowing there was nothing she could do to help the situation. As angry as she was, she only breathed out a sigh of relief as she watched her friend Kuwabara struggle to his feet, declaring that he'd fight the last opponent.

Before this round of fights had even started, Hiei and the masked fighter became trapped in a force field around the medical tent and were declared unfit to fight. Which Hiraki could see it made sense because the Spirit Detective team was fighting two rounds with no rest. Kuwabara had been seriously injured in the last round, so Kurama and Yusuke had been the only two fighters against five. But Kurama barely managed to survive being beaten while unconscious in the third match. Yusuke took over and beat up the guy who was hurting the kitsune in his unconscious state, and then won against the four member of Team Masho, who was a rather fun sounding guy with a speedy Irish accent. Then just as Yusuke had stepped up to fight the last member, the committee pulled this trick out of their hat.

The final fight almost caused the Spirit Detective team to lose, but with the sight of Yukina, Kuwabara's love, caused the goof to start bursting with energy that easily took down the last and strongest member of Team Masho. Hiraki along with her fellow friends in the stands and the rest of the Spirit Detectives became relieved that they could now rest, excited that they won, or in Hiei's case, disappointed at not being able to fight at all.

There was much celebrating and healing that night. With the Spirit detectives and their friends advancing to the next round.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Japan, 3 years later<em>**

The same redhead, now aged 16, was relieved to have her brother and the rest of her family home.

Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei all had to go to Demon World some time back to deal with a political and literal war that was threatening to destroy it all. Yusuke along the way discovered that he had a demon ancestor and after he had been resurrected a second time; in which he had died fighting a person who had been previously Spirit Detective before they were driven insane; the demon blood had awakened. His power had risen so much from the event of his second resurrection that King Enma, Koenma's father, had placed a death warrant on his head. But now, with the boys home and Koenma having overthrown his father, everything was now peaceful.

A loud crash at the back of the temple caused Hiraki to hesitate in what she was doing. Well… almost everything. From the loudness of the crash, it sounded like someone got thrown into the dirt big time. Hiraki thought to herself as she helped Yukina finish making the tea for all of their family. She loved them all no matter how strange or weird they all seemed to be. From Chu's drunkenness and perverted behavior tendencies to Hiei's short and literally fiery temper she'd seen it all and loved them and she wouldn't trade it for all the three worlds.

As she and Yukina came to the back porch of the temple, liquid mercury eyes could see all of what was going on. Jin the windmaster and Yusuke were sparring again and being cheered on by Kuwabara, Chu, Rinku and Suzuki. Others like Touya, Shishiwakamaru and Seaman just watched but all thanked the girls for tea when it was offered to them. Though Hiraki did yelp when Suzuki playfully poked her rear, which ended with him getting pounded by both Yusuke and Kuwabara.

If there was one thing that never changed over the years, Yusuke never stopped getting so protective of his little sister. Only now, he had help from several others and none were afraid to kick anyone's ass. According to Kurama, someone in Makai found out about her and taunted Yusuke about how'd they go after her after they killed him, what they didn't see coming was the lethal blast of Rekai and Youkai mixed together that was shot at point blank range, which was like setting off a nuclear bomb right in your own face. Of course, the girl knowing her older brother, he most likely pounded the _Kisama_ within an inch of his life first.

Once everyone was settled down, Hiraki made her way over to a certain kitsune friend of hers. She found him on the edge of the porch reading a book. She always found it funny when people mistaken the two of them being siblings because of their similar hair color. She had to admit, she wasn't surprise when someone asked if they were sisters. With his red hair hanging just past his shoulders and the ivory skin over delicate facial features and the slightly larger green eyes, Kurama did almost appear to be a girl. Even though he did gain a little of a masculine look now that he was a little older. Hiraki had only seen him in his full demon form during the Dark Tournament, and knew that he was strong, lethal and beautiful. She could understand why he was both feared and legendary. Sometimes she envied him, but when he was surrounded by the fangirls at school, not so much. Hiraki giggled at the thought. The kitsune she was just coming to see raised his emerald gaze to her silver. He cast her a smile.

**_"_****_Good Afternoon, Hiraki-chan."_**

Hiraki couldn't help but smile back. **_"_****_Hello Kurama-onii-san."_**

Kurama noticed she was fiddling with her kimono sleeve, something she subconsciously did when she was nervous. **_"_****_Is there something you wished to speak with me about?"_**

Hiraki nodded, she knew the kitsune would be quick to figuring it out, which was why she came to him in the first place. He was not only the smartest person she knew, but also became an older brother to her alongside Yusuke. **_"_****_I was wondering if I could ask you for advice."_**

One delicate eyebrow was raised. He hoped that she wasn't having any trouble with anyone. She came to him whenever someone at school was causing trouble or bullying her for two reasons. One, when she skipped two grades in middle school she was transferred to a private academy high school to further her potential, so the two of them were in the same school. The second was that Yusuke tended to overreact to even the mention of bullying to his little sister, though his reason why was understandable. Hiraki was one of the sweetest girls you would ever meet in your life, but she was also a bit soft-spoken, shy and has a rather low self-esteem. Bullies exploited these often since they made her an easy target. Kurama himself had grown to be very protective of her as well and as a kitsune, he could both sense and smell her distress if anyone decided to pick on her. As far as he knew, it's only happened twice.

**_"_****_I was picked for the pen pal program."_**

Kurama almost fell off the porch into the dirt when she spoke. That he wasn't expecting. He sat up straight and let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. At least it hadn't been as he had thought. **_"_****_That's great imouto-chan. Congratulations."_** He saw a flicker of nervousness pass over her face. **_"_****_What's wrong?"_**

It was a few moments before she answered. **_"_****_This is the first time I've done something like this. I-I guess I'm just nervous…"_**

Kurama set his book aside as the smaller redhead sat down next to him**_. "What do you have to be nervous about? _****_I thought you would be excited to be picked for this program."_**

**_ "_****_I-I am…. It's just… what if my pen pal doesn't like me?"_** She ducked her head forward; red hair falling over her face like a curtain. She knew it was a stupid fear but it was one thing that always unsettled her. She could understand a perfect stranger not liking her, but this pen pal was someone she was going to be talking to for not only a class grade but also to learn about another's countries culture. She knew some demons in the Makai hated her for being related to her brother but knew there was nothing she could do about it. The last time she tried Yusuke had bopped her over the head with a rolled up newspaper and told her to get over it, which caused her to laugh because of the surprised looks they got.

The kitsune sighed, this was a good example of her low self-esteem. If there was one thing she was good at besides calming down Yusuke and Hiei; the two hot tempered ones of the original team; it was making friends with just about everyone. It was impossible to hate her, as was discovered when Hiei had kidnapped her when he was still a criminal. Even the vertically challenged fire demon, who at that particular time despised all humans, couldn't help but fall into the young and innocent girl's magic spell. She so easily charmed so many that the bandit had to wonder if she even noticed when she did it. She was a wonder to all those she came into contact with. You can't help but feel amazingly good even when the world seemed to be against you. If only he could get her to feel it too.

**_"_****_Hiraki."_** He said softly. She looked up at him, signaling he had her full attention. **_"_****_You are one of the sweetest, kindest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting."_** Which was the truth, and that said a lot considering he was well over three thousand years old. **_"_****_I'm sure that your pen pal will absolutely love you. You have a great ability of making friends and I know that won't fail you now."_**

The younger redhead tilted her head in thought as she considered his words, mentally going through her memories to see examples of what he meant. He decided to help her with that. **_"_****_There are not many who can calm a certain fire demon even after being kidnapped and used as a hostage. Or convince Yusuke-kun that punching out teachers will bring more harm than good. Or even convince Chu-san to quick drinking every five minutes."_**

Hiraki laughed at the last one, the sound was like hearing soft bells. Mystical and magical. She nodded her head while suppressing another round of giggles. **_"_****_I guess you're right."_** She threw her arms around the legendary bandit's torso to express her gratefulness. **_"_****_Arigato, Kurama-sama!"_**

Kurama's smile made his emerald eyes brighten. He hugged her back. **_"_****_Douitashimashite, Hiraki-chan."_** When the two separated, the young girl ran over to the others to tell them the good news now that she was in much higher spirits.

The red-haired demon watched as a black blur made its way over to him. The figure that was causing the blur stopped and stood behind the demon fox.

**_"_****_You sensed it as well, Hiei."_**

It wasn't a question, merely stating of a fact. The fire demon at mention shoved his hands into the pockets of his black cloak as blood red eyes stared focused on the scene of the others chatting to the younger redhead. A breeze drifted through his spiky black hair.

**_"_****_Hn."_**

A smile curled the edge of Kurama's lips. There it was, the typical answer of Hiei that could mean so many things but yet he knew what the fire demon had sensed the same thing he did.**_ "_****_We must trend carefully in the future, there's no telling when the darkness will strike."_**

He paused to look up at the sky in the distance as clouds briefly covered the sun.

**_"_****_But when it does, we must be ready for anything."_**

* * *

><p>Author note: Yeah! I managed to get this chapter up! Please Review! Can't wait to hear what you think!<p>

Here are some other Japanese words that will be mentioned here and there.

**_Arigato – thank you_**

**_Douitashimashite – you're welcome_**


End file.
